City of Salem Zoning Board of Appeals
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
A meeting of the Salem Zoning Board of Appeals (“Salem ZBA”) was held on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 in the third floor conference room of 120 Washington St., Salem, Massachusetts at 6:30 p.m.
Those present were: Rebecca Curran (Chair), Mike Duffy, Jimmy Tsitsinos (alternate), Rick Dionne, and Annie Harris. Those absent were: Bonnie Belair (alternate) and Jamie Metsch. Also present were Thomas St. Pierre, Director of Inspectional Services, and Danielle McKnight, Staff Planner.
Ms. Curran opens the meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Approval of Minutes
Mr. Duffy moves to approve the minutes of 8/15/12, seconded by Mr. Tsitsinos and approved 5-0.
Continuation of public hearing: Petition of MARTINE BRACKE and SERGE GREGOIRE requesting a home occupation Special Permit in order to operate a wellness/nutrition/reiki business from the residence at 3 FREEMAN RD (R-1 Zoning District).
Documents & Exhibitions:
- Application date-stamped 7/2/12 and accompanying materials
Ms. Curran notes that only four members are here tonight who are eligible to vote on this petition. She gives the applicant the option of proceeding with four members, noting the petition would need all four votes to pass, or continuing to next month. Mr. Gregoire says he did talk to his neighbors, and decided it’s probably not best to see people in his home, so he only wishes to pursue a computer based business. He asks if this means he still needs a Special Permit. Mr. St. Pierre confirms that he does not need the Special Permit if he is not seeing people in the home, only a business certificate from the city clerk.
Mr. Gregoire requests to withdraw the petition. Ms. Harris makes a motion to allow him to withdraw without prejudice, seconded by Mr. Duffy and passed 5-0 (Mr. Duffy, Mr. Tsitsinos, Ms. Harris, Ms. Curran and Mr. Dionne in favor, none opposed).
Public hearing: Petition of ZIAD NABBOUT requesting a Special Permit to allow for a motor vehicle general repair use on the property located at 86 JACKSON ST (B4 Zoning District).
Documents & Exhibitions:
- Application date-stamped 8/29/12 and accompanying materials
- Letter from Vincent J. Furfaro, 17 Calabrese St., dated 9/10/12
- Site plan prepared for Ziad Nabbout for 86 Jackson St., by New England Civil Engineering Corp., dated 8/16/12
Attorney Joseph Correnti, 63 Federal St. presents the petition. He says this is currently a BP station. His client wants to buy the property next door, to the left of the station, which is currently vacant. The property is zoned B4. Across the street is a car lot selling used cars. The proposal is to purchase that lot and build a motor vehicle garage. The lot is about 16,000 SF; the building would be a single story, beige split block type building from which mechanical repairs and auto service would be provided. There will be no gasoline pumping or sales on this property. He says they are asking – with no variances are required –a Special Permit for the use – although this is automotive zoning, a Special Permit is required under the new zoning.
Ziad Nabbout, 13 Cavendish Cir., leases the gas station and would like to own a property for his business. There will be repairs only, no gas. He says the whole property will be paved and cleaned up.
Ms. Curran opens the public comment portion.
Todd Seigel, Ward 3 Councillor, 28 Brittania Cir., says this is a wonderful opportunity and it fits in the current location. It’s now overgrown. He says the applicant runs a great business, and it will be good to get this property back on the tax bill. He supports the petition.
Joseph O’Keefe, Ward 7 Councillor, 28 Surrey Rd, he says he has known the applicant for many years and he runs a good business; he has never heard complaints about him. He supports the petition.
Joe Francis, owner of 92 Jackson St., speaks in support of the petition. He says the lot will be improved, and Mr. Nabbout will run a good business. He says the dangers on the lot will be remedied.
Ms. McKnight reads letter in support of the petition from Vincent J. Furfaro.
Ms. Curran asks if Site Plan Review would be required for this; Mr. Correnti says no. He says it will be a single story split block; it will have garage doors, 3 or 4 in front. He says it’s nothing fancy, but in keeping with the area. It will be new and paved; there will be some landscaping. It will have a flat roof. Ms. Curran asks if it has enough parking. Mr. Correnti says it meets all parking, setback and density requirements. He says it’s undeveloped to the rear, and there are no residents directly behind it. There’s a lot of green buffer before reaching the yards on Calabrese Street.
Ms. Harris asks if new curb cuts are proposed. Mr. Correnti says yes. He says they will get to another level of plans once they know this is going forward; the next step is the closing if they do get approval tonight. The building inspector will see it, as well as engineering, etc. Ms. Harris notes that what’s important is that there are curb cuts and not one continuous one, so a sidewalk can be maintained. Some area for planting is also important.
Ms. Curran says it’s an appropriate use for this area, and she would be in favor of granting it. Mr. Duffy agrees; it seems this is a proposal that seeks to meet community needs. There will be no adverse impacts to traffic flow and safety. There’s been no discussion of adverse impacts to utilities. It’s in keeping with the neighborhood, including views. It would have a potential positive fiscal impact on the city. We’ve heard a lot of support from the community. The adverse effects would not outweigh beneficial impacts.
Mr. St. Pierre suggests as a condition that they must abide by the unregistered vehicle ordinance Sec. 24-21. He says this is not reflection on Nabbout, just a general problem in the city.
Mr. Dionne moves to approve the petition with standard conditions and one special condition: Petitioner shall abide by the unregistered vehicle ordinance – no unregistered cars are to remain on the property for more than 15 days. The motion is seconded by Mr. Duffy and passes 5-0 (Mr. Dionne, Mr. Duffy, Mr. Tsitsinos, Ms. Curran and Ms. Harris in favor, none opposed).
Public hearing: Petition of CHRISTINE BURKINSHAW requesting a Variance from side yard setback and a Special Permit to extend a nonconforming structure, in order to construct an addition to the second floor unit located on 118 DERBY ST (B1 Zoning District).
Documents & Exhibitions:
- Application date-stamped 7/24/12
- Elevation drawings dated 7/23/12 by Paul R. Lessard
- Photographs, no date
- Parcel map, 7/20/12
Paul Lessard, 18 Levitt St., the project architect, presents the petition. Christine and Bob Berkinshaw, owners, are also present. Mr. Lessard says the owners received the property adjacent to Ye Olde Pepper Co., after a long probate period. He shows a photograph of the property included in the application. He would like to add 17% more floor area to the top floor. The first floor will be storage for the candy company: carts and nonflammable items. He presents the elevations. He says there is a driveway adjacent to the parking area for the candy store. He shows the current means of egress and says they are hoping to add to the rest of the second floor. The footprint will not be changed. He says they have letters of support from two adjacent abutters, one a homeowner and the
historical society owning the adjacent House of Seven Gables.
Ms. Curran asks for confirmation they are keeping building as is, just filling in the second part which is recessed. They are staying on the footprint? Mr. Lessard – Yes – we are continuing the building, and the character of the building, using the same materials. At the end, the whole house will have been stripped and have new gutters, etc.
Ms. Curran it will be used as an apartment and storage? Mr. Lessard says yes; the apartment has not been used for many years. The first floor has been used for storage. There is parking for two cars end to end. Since they own the adjacent parking lot, if a tenant didn’t want to be end to end, they could allow the tenant to park on the adjacent property.
Mr. St. Pierre – the apartment is there, but ceased being used 15-20 years ago. The main house needs some renovation, but the rear portion needs major repair. This would straighten things out for the second floor apartment.
Ms. Curran asks if it’s OK for it to continue as an apartment.
Mr. St. Pierre says yes, it’s on the books this way.
Ms. Harris asks about the front extension – there is a slight setback? And in the back, there’s a setback of a couple of feet? Mr. Lessard says that’s correct, but we will not be changing the footprint. Ms. Harris – so the drawing isn’t quite right – the roof isn’t shown that way. The eave is not quite in the right place? Mr. Lessard says that’s possible. Yes, the eave should be shown slightly higher due to the fact that the roof will be flush. Ms. Harris – It would be nice to have a ridge drop there.
Ms. Curran opens the public comment portion; no one comments, so she closes it.
Ms. Curran: There is no issue with the use, then. Mr. St. Pierre confirms this. Ms. Curran says it’s a small addition, they are cleaning up the building significantly; and parking is not a problem. The only detriment is an increase in square footage. Ms. Harris says this is a much better egress.
Mr. Burkinshaw: I won’t get in front of HisCom until next month, so won’t be starting construction immediately. If it’s not started in fall, then spring.
Mr. Dionne says it’s good to see the property improved.
Mr. Duffy moves to approve the petition with 9 standard conditions, seconded by Ms. Harris and approved 5-0 (Mr. Tsitsinos, Ms. Curran, Ms. Harris, Mr. Dionne, and Mr. Duffy in favor, none opposed).
Public hearing: Petition of ANDREW WEINSTEIN, TRUSTEE, MASON REALTY TRUST, requesting a Special Permit to extend a nonconforming use by allowing parking of 12 school buses on the premises of 38 COMMERCIAL ST & 53 MASON ST (BPD Zoning District).
Documents & Exhibitions:
- Application date-stamped 8/28/12
- Site Plan of Land located in Salem, Mass., prepared for First student, Inc. by Eastern Land Survey Associates, dated 8/23/12
Attorney George Atkins, 59 Federal St., presents the petition. Also present is a representative from First Student Inc., Gig Michaud. Mr. Atkins says in 1969, this was the location of the Eastern MA railway bus terminal. Subsequently, the building was used for manufacturing – trailer trucks were in and out. Now there are a variety of businesses – all involve truck and trailer traffic. In the 80s, there was another bus business on the premises. The use now proposed is to park 10-12 buses on the property in the vacant space to the rear of the building.
Mr. Atkins presents photos of the property, saying there is a large empty area at the back. One concern could be the noises produced by backup alarms. It’s easy to back buses in once finishing their rounds in the morning at 10 a.m. At 4 p.m, they back in so that during the morning departure there are no alarms. Making the turn from North Street to Commercial St. is difficult – having the light at Mason and North makes the route safer. He says this is a new contractor for Salem, and it’s important they travel/make their dropoffs on time. A location in Salem is difficult to find – they don’t think this will have any effect on the surrounding community and is a natural use for this property. There will also be onsite management – the company will rent an office
on the premises.
Mr. Atkins says the bus company is a worldwide transportation company. They are experienced in terms of safety and record. For many years, the Michaud bus company was run on Jefferson Ave.
Mr. Michaud says he was born into the business 60 years ago and understands the transportation industry well. This is a short contract – 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. The buses will be leaving in the morning at 6:30, and there are no backup alarms then. They come back about a quarter to nine, then park for 3-4 hour, then go out for 2 hours, then return for the day. No operation on vacations, weekends, summers. He says the City was anxious to have them park in Salem with their office here too. If a bus has an issue, another bus can be sent quickly. If they are located outside the city, there are more delays. The state and federal government have a five minute idling law. Their rule is 3 minutes. They tell immediately if a bus has been idling,
monitoring in real time. Drivers have to sign the company policy on this. All the buses have GPS.
Mr. Atkins asks if there will be fueling onsite. Mr. Michaud says they have an outside vendor to bring in 15 gallons at a time. They have safety equipment with auto shutoffs. They do this throughout the country and in Canada. They do this on school grounds as well, and have no issues. Most of their fleet is fueled this way.
Mr. Atkins says this is an advantage to the city and its school system, students and parents. There will be no construction taking place. No public services are required. The most important provision for nonconformng use is that this is not substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood.
Ms. Curran opens up the issue for public comment.
Ward 7 Councillor Joe O’Keefe is in favor of the petition because Salem needs the buses. He remembers that building being used for street cars – the tracks are still on Mason St. It’s always been used for transportation. These are diesel buses; diesel is not as flammable as gasoline.
Arthur Parent, 39 Mason St., says he only opposes buses going down Mason St. – it’s too busy. The business at 39 ½ Mason doesn’t have enough parking.
Ms. Curran: what is the proposed route for buses?
Mr. Michaud: Most go down Mason as part of their routes. They have some stops on Mason – to have them not be on Mason would be impossible – it’s how the routes have been established by the school system. Some buses finish their routes on Mason, though others can use Commercial St. coming back from their routes. Ms. Curran – none go down Flint St.? No one can make that turn. Mr. Michaud says no.
Ms. Harris – why aren’t buses parked on the school grounds? Mr. Michaud – our schools don’t have enough parking area. We did look at parking at our old location, but it wasn’t possible. There is already a company parking buses on Jefferson Ave. – they had the contract last year.
Ms. Harris – does this part of Commercial St. flood? Mr. St. Pierre – yes, Commercial St. floods. Cars couldn’t traverse, but a bus could. The property itself does not flood.
Ms. Curran – will the fueling trigger con com review? Mr. St. Pierre – we should add this in the conditions.
MR. Michaud says his firm has come out to review Stratton Environmental out of TN – they will review the site a number of times.
Ms. Curran – it is an enormous space – that doesn’t seem to be an issue. What’s in the building now? Andrew Weinstein says there are 8 businesses now.
Mr. Tsitsinos and Mr. Dionne say they are happy with the proposal.
Mr. St. Pierre – Mr. Michaud did his due diligence – he looked at many locations and came up with very few that could work.
Ms. Harris moves to approve the petition with 3 standard conditions and one special condition – the company will make its best efforts to split any bus traffic evenly between Mason and Commercial streets.
Ms. Harris notes that the site was used for transportation for many years, and this use is appropriate for the location.
Mr. Duffy says this appears to be a proposed extension of nonconforming use not more detrimental than the existing uses. He seconds Ms. Harris’ motion. The petition is approved 5-0 (Ms. Harris, Ms. Curran, Mr. Tsitsinos, Mr. Duffy and Mr. Dionne in favor, none opposed).
Mr. Tsitsinos moves to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Dionne and approved 5-0.
Ms. Curran adjourns the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Danielle McKnight, Staff Planner
Approved by the Board of Appeals 10/17/12
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